Data Migration

Importing Tasks or Projects from another Tool?

If you are new to Taskfeed and migrating from running projects tracked on a spreadsheet or a disconnected app, you can import tasks from ongoing projects into Taskfeed using the Salesforce Data Import Wizard.

This article describes the process of importing Tasks into a Taskfeed Board in bulk.

Note:Import tasks in bulk for projects that have already started. For future projects, we recommend using Task Templates instead.

Before any data can be imported into Taskfeed with the Salesforce Data Import Wizard, the import file must be cleaned and mapped to the relevant Taskfeed data fields.

Prepare the import file by copying the existing data in a Spreadsheet format and replace some of the column headers with new columns which will map to Taskfeed data fields. Some data fields are required and others are optional. The required fields to map are:

Taskfeed Board: Into which Board are the Tasks going to be imported? You will first need to create one or more Taskfeed Boards where those tasks will be nested.

Taskfeed List: Which List on the Board should the Task belong in? Every Taskfeed Task is nested under a List, which in turn, belongs to a Board.

Task Name: What will be the name of the Task?

Other fields are optional and you may include them if you wish, such as Owner, Start Date, Due Date, Detail information etc.

Mapping the Tasks to a Board and a List

Start with the three required data fields: Board, List and Task Name.

If you have not already done so create a new Board for the Project you are about to import Tasks for.

Create three new columns in your Spreadsheet titled Board, List and Name respectively.

Use the Board’s Salesforce Record ID instead of the Board’s Name, since there is a chance that there could be more than one Board with the same name.

The easiest way to grab the Board’s and List’s Salesforce Record Ids is to create a report using the standard Taskfeed Boards with Taskfeed Lists report type and including both the Taskfeed Board Id and Taskfeed List Id fields onto the report. A summary report format group by Board Name should look like this:

Notice the List Name is the same across different Boards but their Taskfeed List ID is unique.

Alternatively:

From Salesforce, find the Taskfeed Boards tab. From one of the List Views, find and click on the Taskfeed Board created for these Tasks to go to the Board’s record detail.

In your Web Browser Address/URL bar copy the Record ID part of the URL. This is the code following ".com/"

Copy this value into the Board column in your spreadsheet as a value against each task you want to import.

You will also need to find the Salesforce Record ID for the List instead of the List Name. This is particularly important because Lists have the same name across many boards, but their Salesforce Record ID is unique for each Board. In order for Salesforce to identify exactly which List to match against your Task record, you must provide its unique Salesforce Record ID.

From that Taskfeed Board's record detail page in step 3, go to the Related section and find Lists.

Select the name of a List to go to that Taskfeed List's Salesforce Record Detail Page.

Copy its Record ID from the URL as you did earlier for the Taskfeed Board.

Copy this value into the List column on the spreadsheet.

If you want different Tasks to appear in different Lists on import then repeat to get the Record ID for each separate List.

Mapping the Task Name

The next step is to define the name each Task will have in Taskfeed. One thing to note is that the Name field in Salesforce cannot be longer than 80 characters.

Mapping The Owner

In order to assign an Owner, you need to provide the Salesforce Record ID for the person’s Salesforce User record. Create a Column in your spreadsheet which will map to the Owner field in Taskfeed. The column name should be “Owner”.

To get each User’s Record ID, you can create a report using the standard report type Users and include the User Id field in the report.

Alternatively, follow these steps:

Navigate to Setup > Manage Users > Users

Select the User’s Name to open the Users Salesforce Record Detail page.

Copy the Salesforce Record ID from the URL as shown before for the Board and List record Id.

Mapping the Detail field

The Detail field in Taskfeed is a long text fields that can contain up to 30,000 characters. If you have a few different cells containing notes then it can be useful to concatenate these into the Detail field.

Creating the Import File

Once you have enough information mapped onto the the spreadsheet, the file is ready to import. Save the file as a CSV (“CSV UTF-8” if using Microsoft Excel) and go back to Salesforce.

Import the Tasks using the Salesforce Data Import Wizard

Navigate to Setup > Data Import Wizard.

Select Launch Wizard!

Select the Custom Objects tab.

Then select Taskfeed Tasks.

Select Add New Records.

For each of the questions provided select an option for how Salesforce should find the corresponding field value.

Match by can be left blank as you will be creating new records

As you are using Salesforce Record IDs for Board, List and Owner, set the picklist value Salesforce.com ID, for these.

If you have mapped other fields set those as appropriate.

Finally, check Trigger workflow rules and processes?

Drag and drop your file or select CSV and then choose your file to the designated area.

Click Next.

Map any fields that have not been mapped automatically to Taskfeed fields. If you have some marked in red as Unmapped, select the blue Map link to the left and pick the field you wish to map.

Click Next, and then Start Import.

In just a few moments you can check your Board and it should be full of Tasks!